The Dupps Co., Germantown, Ohio, is a fabricator of heavy-duty processing equipment that has managed to post 2 million work hours without a lost-time accident. For its outstanding safety record, the company was named the recipient of FMA's 2015 Rusty Demeules Award for Safety Excellence.

Alexandra Industries, a producer and fabricator of aluminum extrusions in Alexandria, Minn., recognized the need to get involved in the local school district to boost the image of manufacturing in the eyes of students. But it didn't just volunteer to send over speakers. It heavily influenced the curriculum at the new high school and donated new manufacturing technology.

Wisconsin Metal Parts Inc., Waukesha, Wis., has grown its metal fabricating business very aggressively in recent years. The latest machine tool technology has helped, but its employees have made it stay in control and on course.

Despite having low- and high-powered laser cutting machines and two waterjets, a fabrication shop recognized that it might have a need for more laser cutting capacity. To fill that gap, Advanced Laser & Waterjet Cutting installed a 1-kW CO2 laser cutting machine.

One fabricator suggests that younger workers in a metal fabricating setting are more likely to follow safety rules and regulations because they don't want to cut corners. That may bode well for boosting manufacturing's image in the eyes of others who may associate death and dismemberment with manufacturing.

While many people turned their back on manufacturing careers, Kyle Layman couldn't wait to get started. Now he's the impetus for growth at Layman Fabrication, North Vernon, Ind., while dad gets to focus on the fabrication activity that he's always loved.

If you walk into a fabrication shop today, you more than likely are going to see a machining center on the shop floor. It's not that these shops are chasing machining work; they are just looking to add more manufacturing services to win more business from their current customer base.

No one doubts that welding equipment has advanced to the point where it has greatly improved welding results and productivity when compared to the technology of previous decades. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t room for improvement. Fronius has attempted to address some of GMAW’s shortcomings with its LSC welding platform.

Lean principles apply to all manufacturing, not just OEM settings where a few types of products are made each and every day. These tips can help a job shop fabricator to eliminate waste in its assembly area.

Robots replacing fabricators is not likely to happen in the next few years. However some predict that robots may replace almost 50 percent of all kinds of jobs in the future. That is likely to include some fabrication jobs.